Almost three years ago, Dr. Steve Shaw (McGill University), Dr. Mireya Marquez (Universidad Iberoamericana Santa Fe) and I founded the hashtag #GetYourManuscriptOut. I was frustrated that I had SEVERAL papers whose conversion-rate-from-conference-paper-to-journal-article had been basically ZERO. So, I decided to look at my dormant papers and JUST GET THE MANUSCRIPT OUT. Throughout the years, since July 2014, I have been joined by many researchers who have found #GetYourManuscriptOut a supportive community for academic writing.

But, as I have previously written, I can very easily feel writer’s block. And yes, the reason why I wake up at 4am and start writing and write every single day is because I know that social media is addictive, and even with my own guidelines and tricks to avoid spending all day in social media, I can get easily distracted. That’s also why I have written about the hacks I use to trick myself into regaining focus.

So when Madeleine suggested that we commit to writing 500 words BEFORE starting social media, I was delighted. It’s hard for me to ALWAYS generate text, which is why I wrote about prompts I use to start writing.

Any blocked writers want to join us? We’re pledging 500 words of anything, everyday, before we open up twitter. Starting tomorrow. https://t.co/sKETYDv8lb

But around the same time, I wanted to commit to submitting all the dormant papers I had to send out right about now. Let me explain: theoretically, my campus has two weeks of holidays right about now. I would LOVE to take these holidays. But I am way too busy as I am about to deploy fieldwork for four case studies. So, I moved my holidays towards the end of the summer and early December. And I will be working for the next two weeks. This means, while my campus will be empty, I can focus entirely on writing and research without having to worry about being interrupted by meetings and administrative stuff.

TWO COMPLETE, UNINTERRUPTED RESEARCH AND WRITING WEEKS.

So, I invited my Twitter colleagues to join me in a #GetYourManuscriptOut #500words #FortNight. For the next two weeks, I will be focusing on getting manuscripts out.

I thought about creating a Google Spreadsheet to allow others to insert their own pledges, but in the interest of privacy, I decided against it. What I have done is to create my own Google Spreadsheets to track my own progress. Hopefully many of you will join!

Subscribe

About Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD

I am an Assistant Professor in the Public Administration Division of the Centre for Economic Research and Teaching, CIDE (Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas, CIDE, AC) based out of CIDE Region Centro in Aguascalientes, Mexico. My research is interdisciplinary by nature, although I consider myself more of a political scientist and geographer, as those [...]more →